Date:         Tue, 8 Apr 2008 17:33:27 -0600
Reply-To:     miguel pacheco <mundopacheco@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         miguel pacheco <mundopacheco@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Crash Survivor
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

Some of you may remember the thread 'What To Do With a Crash Survivor',
Neale Pickett, author. He had this crash survivor in Los Alamos a couple of
months ago and I bought it  :

http://inventors.about.com/od/astartinventions/a/air_bags.htm

My question is regarding body work. Are there any instructional sites
recommended? Specifically I want to repair the front. The door I will just
replace. I don't know if it would be advisable to replace the skin or just
slide-hammer these indentations as far out as possible then just fill in.
I purchased the van from Neale and picked it up last week. The deal was
straight up with no surprises. Originally I was going to haul it back to
Durango (a 3 hr drive) but I ended up installing a cracked windshield from
my boneyard and re-connecting the hot water supply to radiator where the
impact apparently caused the hose to fly off of the plastic conduit. Other
than that, the van drives straight. It even looks pretty good if you stand
at the right spot, tilt your head and squint your eyes a bit.
BTW this van has a 2.3 GoWesty engine (transferable warranty) with 16,000
miles. This thing is smoother and quicker than any 2.1 I've ever driven. Big
smile on my face every time I drive it..........now back to the regularly
scheduled, never ending repairs, on one van or another....................
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Gracias,
Miguel